Redemption
by Aweshumnesh
Summary: Kanto falls to Team Rocket in one swift operation after revelations that many had been conspiring with Team Rocket all along. It is now illegal to even own Pokemon. Ash lost everything during Team Rocket's invasion but he soon meets another boy with a similar hatred for Team Rocket and a man named Adam who loves killing Rockets. A story of war, deceit and the struggle to be free.


_Author's Note_ _: Redemption was a Pokémon fanfiction by me that ran on FanFiction Dot Net from July 2014 to August 2015. It got discontinued from Chapter 29, 122k words and 100+ followers into the story. It got discontinued at first because depression and real life kept me from writing the final 10 or so chapters. Afterwards, whenever I read the story, I felt that my writing skills at the time and my initial lack of planning had done the story a great deal of injustice. So I took it down although it had 400 or so reviews._

 _I believed in the story but not in my storytelling at the time. So I have decided to re-do it all. This is the second coming of the story. Some of you may remember the original version. The plot will mostly be the same, just told in a different way. I will ask you not to give any spoilers of any kind because the main plot elements will remain unchanged._

 _Redemption, in its essence, is my attempts to write a darker and all the more mature Pokémon world and to add context to many things that have remained unexplained in the games/TV show._

 _Thank You!_

 _*SC stands for Scene Change*_

Prelude

Televisions across Kanto were tuned into the Pokémon League final. The final showdown between Ash Ketchum and Lance had gripped the country. People were betting on both trainers but experts still had their money on Lance.

But there were some people who had no time for the battle. They were preparing for something even bigger and even grander.

Inside Team Rocket's bases, not a single person was watching the battle.

It had been four weeks since Giovanni's major announcement. Tonight was going to be the night. Everyone inside Team Rocket's bases across the country was busy at work. Giovanni had promised total control.

The strange man that had come from Unova had given Giovanni some strange technology that turned their Pokémon into monsters. The experiment was known as the "Plus 5 Project" and everyone inside Team Rocket would get their Pokémon 'upgraded'.

Many inside Team Rocket didn't know the details of how total control would come about but they could tell Giovanni was sincere in his promise. Total Control was coming to Team Rocket. It was coming.

Every Team Rocket member had enthusiastically signed up for Pokémon upgrades. All except one.

That one member was lost in thought.

James stared at the dagger in his hands. He tried feeling the edge with his finger, half consciously, half unaware of the obvious outcome. He'd taken off his glove to feel it and regretted it right away. The edge was agonizingly sharp and it cut his finger tip at the very point it came in contact with skin. A tiny drop of blood poured out. James had been scared of the sight of blood all his life. Now, at this point of time, it didn't matter. If things went according to plan, there would be a lot more blood.

In all his years at Team Rocket, he had never felt this anxious about his role as a member of a criminal organization. He had been feeling the changes for a while but they had never been as apparent before as they were now. Something had changed about Team Rocket. This new plan that Giovanni talked about, if it was implemented, the entire country would change.

He could tell his heart was beating like a madman. He closed his eyes and gathered his thoughts. He had been doing this again and again for the past 48 hours. Thankfully, his thoughts were all in one place.

James lay in his bunker, one hand covering his eyes. Only a blue sleeping light lit up the room. There were still three hours to go before the time he had chosen. Enough time, for instance, to change his mind. But he couldn't. Far too much depended on him being able to pull off this one particular task. It wouldn't be that difficult. He had a Top Level Pass. Nobody would suspect him, not even once. All he had to do was walk in and stab the dagger into Giovanni's neck. Whatever came after could come, it didn't matter. Even if people rushed in in time to kill him, it wouldn't matter. At least the events planned for later on in the night would be halted.

James looked at the Pokeballs next to his pillow. Weezing, Cacnea and Wobbuffet. Not the greatest assortment of Pokémon in the world, nor the best trained. His Pokémon team was a representation of his life in many ways; pathetically mediocre. He felt bad for thinking about his Pokémon in that fashion but he knew there was no point denying the truth. He'd run away from home to find his place in the world. His place ended up being a criminal gang known as Team Rocket.

James tightened his grip on the dagger and got up. If there was one way to redeem himself and his life, this would be it. This one dagger, lodged in the right neck, could save the country. He had the power to stop Team Rocket from turning into what it was about to turn into.

He'd never wanted to be a criminal. After all, whoever did? But he had always put himself to sleep at night with the knowledge that Team Rocket never succeeded in any of its plans and all it had were a few casinos and minor operations. Few people took them seriously, the Police hardly cared. Many treated them like a joke.

But that was changing. This Team Rocket, this Team Rocket was different from the pathetic one he remembered. Something had started to change within Team Rocket. What was it? Something had changed in Giovanni too. The boss' ambitions went from being stealing a few powerful Pokémon to something far bigger and far more menacing. Most people in the organization went with it, most saw profit. James didn't see it that way. James knew what was ahead if Giovanni's newest plans were executed.

James walked out of his room and walked towards the elevator. The Team Rocket base was absolutely buzzing. You'd be forgiven for thinking it was Christmas. James looked at some of the other Rocket members. They were chatting among themselves and sporting big smiles on their faces. 'Tonight is going to be great', James overheard a Rocket grunt saying. Almost everyone had a smile on their face in anticipation of Giovanni's grand plan. Giovanni had called it "Plan Indigo".

The reasons behind the name were beyond James, he didn't even hope to understand. But what the plan entailed, that James knew very well. There would be a lot of death and destruction and at the end of it, complete darkness. Yet, James looked around him, so many of these people rejoiced because even if the entire country would be thrown into darkness, the people inside Team Rocket would come out as beneficiaries in all this. He would never stop being awed by how pathetically selfish people could be.

James was on the elevator. He pressed the button for the top most floor. The tiny monitor next to the buttons asked for his Pass. James placed his Card next to the monitor. He knew it would give him the clearance, it had on a hundred occasions before but for some reason, James felt that the Card would not be cleared. To his relief, the monitor beeped once and showed a green screen. The green signal. He was clear.

He would be in Giovanni's floor in less than a minute. A billion different thoughts flashed through James' mind. The sweat was pouring down his back. His black Team Rocket uniform was drenched and it stuck to his back like glue. The elevator came to a halt at the 12th floor.

The doors parted to reveal Jessie standing outside the elevator.

James' heart almost exploded. Their team had been split since Giovanni's 'Reformation' a few months prior. Jessie had jumped up the ranks very quickly. They had hardly spoken since then but James had a feeling that Jessie was fully in support of Giovanni's new plans. It hurt him to know that his team mate of so many years could support a plan that entailed so much killing but she was, at the end of the day, a criminal. He should have known.

"What's gotten into you?" Jessie said, scanning James from head to toe. His sweaty appearance might have escaped many peoples' glances but not Jessie's. She knew him far too well.

James couldn't muster a response. His mind went blank.

"Don't do anything stupid, James" Jessie placed a hand on his shoulder and pressed the button on the elevator. The doors opened and Jessie motioned to James to follow after her.

James felt the colour drain from his face and the perspiration trickle down his cheek. He closed his eyes and followed after her.

The elevator door closed, taking Jessie and James downstairs.

*SC*

A bit further off in the 12th floor, in the only office the floor housed, Giovanni looked on at the clock hanging from his walls.

It was almost time.

A few words were painted on the walls of Giovanni's office. The paint was still fresh.

"The Day of the Beginning is coming", the words read.


End file.
